Dan Hillier wins at Pegasus

Rising young professional Daniel Hillier has added to his impressive Jennian Homes Charles Tour record which is growing at a rapid rate.

He’s won the DVS Pegasus Open by two shots to claim his third Jennian Homes Charles Tour event of his career; and his second this year to go alongside the Brian Green Property Group NZ Super 6’s title back in March.

Starting the day three shots back, Hillier knew he needed to come out of the gates quickly.

He opened with even par on his first nine and was still a handful of shots back from the lead. That all changed on the 12^th and 13th holes where he made back-to-back birdies.

He parred the 14^th before making two more birdies at the 15^th and 16^th holes and all of a sudden, he was tied for the lead.

He made a clutch birdie up the last to take the clubhouse lead, ensuring a nervous wait as the other players completed their rounds.

Mako Thompson who was playing in the final group fell behind early in the day and was three over through his opening 10 holes.

He then made a late charge at Hillier’s lead with birdies on the 12^th, 15^th, and 16^th holes to get back to even-par for the day and 10-under for the tournament.

Thompson then unbelievably holed his second shot for an eagle 2 on the 17^th, to move within one shot of the lead with one hole to play.

However, Thompson made bogey and the tournament went to Hillier.

He says he couldn’t be happier.

“It’s crazy.

“I was playing well early on today, but hit a shot out of bounds on the seventh which set me back a bit and I thought it would be a tough ask to come back from that.

“I managed to get my way to the 12^th without any more damage and something just clicked, and I birdied five out of the last seven holes. The rest is history,” Hillier says.

The Wellingtonian had no idea if his birdie at the last was going to be good enough to win after signing his scorecard.

“I didn’t know what was happening until I signed my scorecard and Dave [Mangan] came up to me and let me know that Geary has had some trouble but Mako has just gone birdie, eagle, to be one shot back heading up the last which threw a spanner in the works.

“That made me head straight for the range to hit balls until I was told I had won,” he says.

Hillier says his game feels good ahead of the next two events on the Jennian Homes Charles Tour, starting with The Carrus Open in Tauranga next week.

“I’m feeling pretty good heading into the next few weeks. This event gives me a heap of confidence moving into those. I’ve been hitting it really well and been rolling it nicely all week this week, hopefully I can keep the form up and we’ll see how we go from there.”